This one was different. I love historical fiction, so I was excited for this book. I did love the characters and their dynamics together. I can usually follow duel timelines pretty well, but these timelines seemed almost too close together and it was harder for me to keep them straight. I also had a bit of a hard time getting used to the language used and they way the characters talked. The storyline was strong, but I was expecting a bit more from it.

The Paragon Hotel is an interesting novel. The story moves back and forth from Harlem in NYC to Portland, Oregon. Alice, often referred to as “Nobody”, escapes her life in New York City and makes her way to Oregon, where she finds herself living in The Paragon Hotel – a haven for Blacks in the 1920s. The historical information that is scattered throughout the book is jaw-dropping. I had no idea that Oregon in the 1920s had so many racist views and laws or that the KKK was so prominent.

While the story itself is compelling, I found the cadence of the language somewhat difficult and it took me awhile to become accustomed to it. The book started off fairly slowly but then built to a crescendo, with an unexpected ending. Meanwhile, the characters are original and completely fascinating. The Paragon Hotel is truly unique in voice, design and setting. While it’s not a quick read, I think most fans of historical fiction will find it satisfying in some way. I would probably give it 3.5 stars but will bump that rating up to 4 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

I've been a fan of Faye since Jane Steele and she come back to us again with another stunner in The Paragon Hotel. I'm not much on historical fiction usually but I've ben surprised lately.. however, I already knew going in that Faye has a talent of bringing history to life. She brings Nobody and everybody into The Paragon Hotel.

We switch back and forth from NYC Harlem and how Nobody, "just call me Alice", came to Oregon, The Paragon Hotel and her reasonings behind what she does. Introducing characters such as the doctor, Davy and Blossom, here comes a mystery I wasn't expecting and the KKK, which I was. I was fortunate enough to meet Lyndsay when she was promoting The Whole Art of Detection and remember her mentioning this is where her next book was going to be heading. I was instantly intrigued and SO excited to get my hands on a copy.

I'll be completely honest, it took me quite a bit to get into this book. The cadence and language was hard for me to grasp on to right away. "Quelque". There's nothing that comes out and nudges you or completely WOWs you in an instant scene or reveal. What we get is a span throughout the ENTIRE read that starts to settle into your soul. If you're a lover of historical fiction and reading about the KKK and prohibition times, this is most definitely the read for you. Don't let what I consider a slow start deter you. At right about the third way into the story, I found myself wanting to take this journey with Nobody.

This time period is such a hard one - we still see racism and the KKK is still affluent unfortunately. Some language and scenes really made me angry and I found myself frowning quite a bit throughout the read. If a book can pull these feelings well... I think it's doing something right.

What immediately strikes the reader in Lyndsay Faye's The Paragon Hotel is the strong, unique voice of the narrator. Alice "Nobody" James is a brash and tough but vulnerable chameleon in her mid-twenties is on the run, taking a train to get as far from Harlem as possible, hopefully leave her criminal past behind.

She soon finds herself convalescing from a gunshot wound, the only white woman in the only black hotel in a very racist 1920's Portland. And as she shifts from one role to another, Alice meets various residents of the hotel, forming tenuous bonds and unable to keep from rooting out secrets.

While Alice's voice is distinctive, the constant patter does start to get old and I was close to calling it quits as the story seemed to drag. But with the disappearance of Davy Lee, and the calming of the constant gun-moll verbal schtick, the story began to go deeper into the lives of the characters and I was again completely hooked.

This is a novel that is both entertaining and uncomfortable. It deals with racism and bigotry, violence and the secrets kept hidden in a climate and culture of intolerance. And it's historical context, along with quotes at the beginning of each chapter, reveal a side of Portland, Oregon's history that is perhaps not so well known. But it is the characters that really shine, and the twists that will stay in the reader's mind.

I've heard quite a bit of praise for the author's previous work, and if The Paragon Hotel is anything to go on, then it is well deserved. Alice "Nobody" James is a pip of a feminist heroine and the reader is likely to identify what are continuing, and currently very visible, social themes.

Highly recommended to fans of historical fiction written in first person, though with a warning for language, violence, adult content and themes.

This review refers to a digital galley read through NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

The main character, Alice James, grew up in Harlem NY when it was controlled by the Italian mafia. The book opens with her on a train arriving in Portland, OR, after fleeing NY with a bullet wound. As she recovers, she finds herself consumed by the problems of the black community in Portland, and the book alternates between chapters detailing the events happening in Portland and chapters revealing how Alice ended up leaving NY under such dire circumstances.

I'll be honest--I had a somewhat hard time reading this book. It was just so confusing at the beginning, and it took me a very long time to get used to the narrator's style of telling the story. The book is written in first person perspective, and reads like a memoir or a journal written for a particular person to read. The author has adopted a very conversational style for Alice's voice and I just found it difficult to get used to. It was like a language I had to get acclimated to, if that makes sense. That being said, I thought the story--both stories, the Portland story and Alice's Harlem history--were very compelling and interesting. The character are so well drawn. I did figure a lot of things out along the way, but I did not care--in fact, I was pleased to have my suspicions confirmed, it made sense to me and I liked having my ideas resolved in that way.

It may have been a bit of a tough read, but it was worth it. And ... I think it would make a fantastic movie or miniseries. The story is very cinematic, and who doesn't enjoy a good period drama, right? Jazz, mafia, murder, and racism--we would all be on the edges of our seats. So hey! Hollywood! Reese Witherspoon, I'm talking to you! Option this book, please!

A really enjoyable read, one I liked ever better than her Timothy Wilde novels. And though it takes place in the early 20th century, many of themes are (sadly) all too relevant today. The language snapped and sizzled (though a bit of pruning would not have gone amiss), the characters were indelibly etched and well rounded, the setting fabulously depicted. I guess this could be characterized as a mystery, but getting to the bottom of the disappearance of a young boy, ostensibly the plot driver, is secondary to plumbing the mysteries of the narrator's flight from Harlem, the relationships among denizens of the titular hotel, and of the laws of attraction. Very highly recommended!

Thank you, G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love thrillers and this one was no exception. It's a puzzle that you get to piece together and solve. Well written and full of twists and turns it'll grip you from the very first page until the end. Definitely pick up this winner of s book. You won't be disappointed. Happy reading!

Alice “No Body” James wants to get as far away as she can from Harlem, she finds herself on a Pullman car with two bullet wounds straight through her chest, headed for Oregon in 1921. “No Body” is a nickname for her capacity to hide in plain sight. Which I think a lot of us can relate to in some aspect, but “No Body” is whoever you want her to be- or rather, whoever she feels she needs to be. On this Pullman car, she meets Max, who takes her immediately to the only hotel in Portland that accepts people of color. While Alice isn’t black, it’s clear she doesn’t fancy herself for a normal doctor. Max takes her to The Paragon Hotel where she meets and quickly befriends a resident, cabaret singer, and the ever so eloquent Blossom Fontaine.

Blossom is my favorite character and I could listen to her talk in her whimsical and witty way forever. Blossom has had the opposite experience of Alice, she has at least as many secrets as Alice. However, Blossoms’ secrets are the kind where she has to be relentlessly herself and defend it in a way where her persona does not waiver, but remain fixed always.

The novel is a double-helix storyline of Alice and Blossom’s friendship at The Paragon Hotel and Harlem, where Alice finds herself in the middle of feuds between the five families of the Italian American Mafia. The story unwinds to reveal an ending that reminds us things aren’t always as they seem and illustrates the depths that we will go to keep others from finding out our secret.

I recently read an interview with this author, mostly about how much time she spent researching the 'jargon' and vernacular that would have been accurate during the early 1900s. Fine and dandy, but I thought the ENTIRE novel was distractingly hard to read as it was filled with jargon. I thought it definitely took away from the story, which was a good story. If the child hadn't gone missing, I probably would have abandoned it but I'm glad I stuck with it in the end because it surprised me.

I just couldn't like this book. I really tried. I made it about halfway through and then questioned why I was still reading. The Paragon Hotel has a high rating on Goodreads, so I kept thinking I was missing something or that the book had to get better.

The narrators voice just wasn't working for me. I understand that she is a con artist and changes into who she needs to be to suit the situation, but I found her voice hard to read. I typically love historical fiction, but this book wasn't for me.

Told through the eyes of a young girl/woman known by several names and personas including Alice, Alicia, and “Nobody.” The latter was a nickname given to her while growing up in Harlem by her prostitute mother. In the opening chapter, the narrator is traveling by train with a serious injury to an unknown destination for unspecified reasons which are revealed piecemeal over the course of the novel.

As the story unfolds, it alternates between Nobody’s younger years in Harlem and the present when she is 25 years old and staying in the Paragon Hotel. The hotel is upscale for the times but the only hotel for blacks in Portland, Oregon. As a Welsh-Italian, she is not welcome but is tolerated as she was befriended, and brought to the hotel practically on death’s door, by the Pullman’s porter, Max.

The Paragon Hotel is full of complex characters who harbor many secrets. It touches on a number of significant themes reflecting the times and beyond – prohibition, racism, gender norms, loyalty and friendship. Also present are the influences of the criminal society known as the Mafia and the reactionary organization known as the KKK.

Overall, I found The Paragon Hotel very thought provoking and compelling. At times though, I thought there was almost too much going on which took away from the heart of the novel. One of the most notable features of the book, the language, was a stumbling block for me. There was a great deal of “period patter,” both syntax and slang, which, in my opinion, had mixed results. It certainly offered the flavor of the times but I also found it confusing and/or distracting. In addition to the language, there were alternating time periods, the shifting personalities of the narrator as well as emerging and complex story lines.

Fortunately, I decided to push through because I was better able to connect with the story in the second half. Whether I adjusted or the style shifted a bit, the reward was the peeling away of the final layers and an understanding of longstanding secrets.


FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alice “Nobody” James is on the run from the Mafia with two bullets in her at the beginning of The Paragon Hotel. She is obviously in distress when her train arrives in Portland, Oregon, so Max, the African-American railway porter, takes her to the Paragon Hotel. The hotel is the only one in Portland for respectable Negroes in the 1920’s, when this novel is set. In fact, it is illegal for them to even live or work in Portland.

Alice is grateful for the help, and soon after recovering gets to know some of the residents and employees of the hotel. In particular, she is drawn to Blossom Fontaine, a chanteuse who reminds her of a friend she had in New York. When Alice finds that the occupants of the hotel are worried about the Ku Klux Klan, newly arrived in Portland, she decides to help them with her skills in investigation—for she was a spy for Mr. Salvatici, a man known as the Spider, back in Little Italy.

As Alice and her new friends prepare to battle bigotry, a little boy disappears. The novel follows the search for the boy while flashing back to explain how Alice ended up being wounded by her own friend, Nicolo Benemati.

I have been a fan of Lyndsay Faye for a long time, but I did not find this novel as compelling as her others. I wasn’t interested at all in the Mafia story. I was more interested in the Portland story, but somehow the characters didn’t ring true to me, particularly Alice herself. Faye seems to have written this novel to explore Portland’s long racist history, which I found interesting, but it gets off track onto other issues.

I was intrigued by the blurb, but I had a hard time getting into the story and staying engaged. I never really felt a connection to any of the characters. The dialogue felt a bit stilted, and it seemed like there was a bit too much trying to be attempted (with historical fiction and a mystery). It might have worked better as just one genre.

How do you choose which book to read next? Do you choose something on a familiar theme, or do you step out of your comfort zone? There is safety in a certain genre or a familiar author: you know what to expect. But sometimes, you’ll find hidden gems in you seek beyond. In this case, I looked into the realm of historical fiction and found The Paragon Hotel. The premise intrigued me. Here was the story of a white woman (like me, in this one respect) entering an all-black hotel in Portland, Oregon, and getting mixed up in the disappearance of a child of mixed race who resides there.

The Paragon Hotel is a fascinating time-slip novel. Alice James, who goes by the name of Nobody, comes from the world of the New York City Mafioso. She has battled them and lost friends to them. Now on the run, it’s possible she’s gone from the frying pan into the fire. Oregon is almost as far away as you can get from the southern states in the USA, but the Klan is alive and kicking in this state in the 1920s. This was an eye-opening read: I’d had no idea that Oregon’s constitution once banned African-Americans from residing there.

Lyndsay Faye has created an extraordinary cast of characters who draw you into the story of their lives. This might be Alice’s tale but, after the final page, I wanted to know what happened to everyone else. The reader learns the fate of only one, and it’s no spoiler to say that – with the Mafia and the Klan featuring heavily – that it isn’t a good one. There are scenes of sex and violence, and of attempted sexual violence. The language isn’t pretty at times either, even when it’s said in Italian or Sicilian. There are other interesting elements as well that provide insights into what people thought then about things that are commonplace now. Finally, there is a stunning reveal that made me want to re-read the whole book, to see if Faye had left any clues about this particular turn of events that I might’ve missed. I’m calling this one a five-star read.

Faye’s author’s note is also a worthwhile read. The Paragon Hotel building was based on a hotel that had existed in the 1920s in Portland, Oregon. It had been the only hotel for black people in the city until the Depression forced its closure. She also relates her childhood experience of moving from a multicultural area to a mostly white neighborhood, and how it shaped her life. As someone who had a similar experience, that was something to which I could relate and understand.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not required to write a review, and the words above are my own.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Lyndsay Faye, and The Paragon Hotel was no exception. Regardless of what era her stories are set in, Faye manages to capture the essence of the age both in atmosphere and dialogue.

The story of The Paragon Hotel begins on a train to Portland, Oregon. Alice “Nobody” James was shot in New York City under mysterious circumstances and is running for her life as far away as she can go. She meets Max, a porter on the train, who sees the danger she’s in despite her attempts to hide it, and though it’s all-advised on both their ends he brings her to the Paragon Hotel, the only hotel in Portland that welcomes blacks. What’s the problem with that? Well, it’s 1921. Even on the west coast, there is horrendous racism and the Ku Klux Klan is making inroads in Oregon. All the residents of the Paragon Hotel have to watch their backs, and though they are a tightly knit family, they all have their secrets. Once she finds a bit of security, Alice endeavors to find out more about her new friends and unravel the secrets they keep from each other. When a child living at the hotel disappears, Alice’s quest to decipher the myriad puzzles around her takes on a new urgency.

The story flips back and forth between Alice’s upbringing in turn of the century Harlem, where she, as a Welsh-Italian girl was an outsider trying to survive in neighborhoods run by branches of the Mafia, and Alice’s life at the Paragon Hotel in 1921. Unlike most stories told via flashbacks, these were not annoying breaks in the main story giving the reader extraneous background information that detracts from the story. These flashbacks are just as interesting as the primary story, weaving a tale of love, family, and disillusionment that informs the main plot.

Most mysteries rely on plot twists to take the reader on a roller coaster of a plot-driven read. Faye doesn’t do this. She creates lifelike characters who draw you into her stories and, despite their flaws, are so charismatic that you want to learn more about them. You find yourself drawn in so completely that the twists and turns of their lives and their unveiled secrets come as revelations, not twists meant to shock.

With her lyrical prose, Faye reveals often unpleasant aspects of history that we don’t like to think about, bringing to light harsh truths without beating readers over the head with them. She gets under your skin in the best kind of way, and even though there are some very ugly things she shows you, it is worth the ugliness to find the beauty of her terribly, wonderfully human characters.

There is so much I could say about this book, but my review wouldn’t do it justice. As my first book of 2019, I didn’t figure I would find something as enrapturing and consuming right out of the gate. THE PARAGON HOTEL by Lyndsay Faye is both of those things, if not more, and I devoured it in a matter of days. Set in Prohibition-era Portland, Alice James is a white woman who is rescued by a black Pullman porter named Max and brought to the Paragon Hotel on account of the fresh bullet wound she’s sporting from a mafia deal gone wrong. Nursed back to health by the Paragon Hotel’s rightfully wary residents, Alice befriends singer extraordinaire Blossom Fontaine, the imaginative Davy Lee, and a host of other brilliantly wrought characters. When Davy Lee goes missing while the Ku Klux Klan has been inciting violence, Blossom, Alice, and the rest of the Paragon Hotel family are the only people in Portland that are set on finding him. I could say a number of cliched things about the characters and about Faye’s writing, but I will spare you. From her rendering of the Prohibition, to her deft handling of themes of racism, to the multifaceted, human characters that grace the page, THE PARAGON HOTEL is an achingly intelligent, scrappy masterpiece. Buy this book when it is out on Tuesday.

Carrying a bullet wound and fleeing from those who want her dead, Alice "Nobody" James is on a train heading from New York cross-country when she meets, and befriends, Max, a black porter on the train who recognizes Alice is in need of help. He takes her to The Paragon Hotel, the only all-black hotel in Portland, Oregon in this 1921 America.

While there, Alice meets the men and women who live and work in the hotel, and while at first they're a bit reticent about welcoming a white woman into their midst, soon Alice befriends the lively and boisterous Blossom, a nightclub singer.

When one of their residents goes missing, Alice takes up the investigation. But when she begins looking into the disappearance, the mysteriousness of those who live in The Paragon Hotel comes to the surface, especially where Blossom is concerned. All the while Alice's own mysterious escape plays out to a thrilling conclusion.

It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I hit a certain point, where I was familiar with the setting and characters and I could anticipate the flow of the story, specifically when it comes to the dialogue and descriptions - which were beautiful - it was difficult to put down.

The story was broken up between the present - at The Paragon Hotel - and the past - Alice's life growing up in New York, and builds slowly toward the moment at the beginning of the book which finds Alice fleeing for her life.

In New York, Alice, an Italian-American, is entangled with the mafia Family that dominates the streets of Harlem and demands compensation from those they purport to "protect". When Alice's boss looks to usurp the status quo, there are dire circumstances.

In Oregon, Alice comes face to face with racism and the threat of the KKK which is looming on the horizon. While she comes to care for the people of The Paragon Hotel, she's also seen as an outsider. Using her ability - gained from spying - to disappear into different guises, Alice looks to solve the mystery of the missing hotel resident while also uncovering what others only utter in whispers.

After all is said and done, I really felt like The Paragon Hotel was about identity. Who we are, who we want to be, who we want others to see us as, and how we are actually viewed by people. Sometimes this can be the color of someone's skin, sometimes their religious beliefs, sometimes their sex. I thought that Lyndsay Faye pulled off all these different elements really well. Even though I wasn't really surprised by the "big reveal" towards the end, I definitely felt for these characters, and their story - despite taking place in 1921 - felt so extremely relevant to today's world, it made me a little sad too.

I still felt like there were some instances where we didn't get enough closure. I'm not sure if this was done because maybe Lyndsay Faye still has more to tell with these characters, especially Alice, or because of the fact that the struggle is never-ending.

Regardless, I enjoyed The Paragon Hotel. It's an engrossing read that shines light on a time and place in history that I didn't know much about, but also brought to light all the differences and similarities we still face today.

From the very beginning, "The Paragon Hotel" takes readers on a swirling, twirling, rollercoaster of a journey from New York City to Portland, Oregon during America's Prohibition Era of the 1920s. Alice "Nobody" James is scrappy, inventive, and fleeing for her life on a cross-country train. Thanks to a new friend working on the train, Alice makes her way to the Paragon Hotel in Portland, finding new comrades (and enemies) while fleeing from those in her past.

First of all, I adore Lyndsay Faye's writing. "Jane Steele" is one of my favorite books and it inspired me to get my hands on "The Paragon Hotel" as quickly as I could. She captivates her audience with stories about imperfect people fighting for justice despite danger and potential backlash from those around them. Alice is no exception. Despite her humble beginnings as the daughter of a prostitute, she finds a way to hone her skills and perfect the ability to blend into any environment. Her loyalty is solid, but pliable. She's unafraid of danger and even seems to thrive on it. But, above all, Alice can be anyone and everyone at any time - making her an indispensable ally.

"The Paragon Hotel" is a top-notch mystery with plenty of wit and banter to go along with it. The cast of characters is colorful, diverse, and a joy to follow on this literary adventure. The story is fantastic, but I appreciated the historical context just as much. I loved Faye's New York City and Portland, Oregon of the Prohibition Era, a time I really didn't know much about. She brought the Italian mafia and the KKK of the Pacific Northwest into the SAME story (and did it with flair!).

Overall, I think "The Paragon Hotel" was simply lovely. It is timely, entertaining, and meaningful - all in one novel.

The Paragon Hotel follows Alice James, aka Nobody, who escapes the mafia in Prohibition era New York and winds up in Portland, Oregon, where the KKK is terrorizing the city's black population (including the denizens of the Paragon Hotel, who have taken her in). Nobody's story is told in chapters that alternate between her past in New York and present in Portland. It took me a while to get into the book, but once I did I couldn't put it down. Each character was so well drawn, and I loved Nobody's ability to shift into different personas as needed. The historical details of both settings were amazing, and I enjoyed the historical notes at the end. Highly recommended.

I won this advanced ebook copy from a giveaway, and all opinions are my own.

The Paragon Hotel- A Recipe:
-Combine equal parts friendship, hate, intolerance, and survival. Mix throughly.
-Throw in a dash of love story.
-Mix with 1/4 cup of odd, slightly confusing language.
-Serve with a side of slightly unexpected but slightly irrelevant twist at the conclusion.
-Top with a heaping of hope for the future.

The Paragon Hotel takes place in Prohibition-Era Harlem and Portland Oregon in the 1920s, and alternates between Now and Then, both told from the perspective of Alice, aka Nobody. Now and Then aren’t far apart in time, which isn’t clear at first- I would have liked dates in the chapter headings to help me form the timeline in my mind. Nobody is running for her life with an untreated bullet wound and ends up taking sanctuary at an all-black hotel (much to the distaste of many of the residents). As she recovers from her bullet wound she works to gain the trust of the residents, who are terrified of a white resident at their hotel since the state is crawling with Klu Klux Klan members up to no good. Then a boy from the hotel goes missing and all sorts of secrets start to come out. Is Alice safe from what she was running from? Is the boy really who the residents say he is? Why do certain people seem to be hiding the truth?

The book is a historical thriller, which was a combination of two genres I love, so I was pretty excited to see what it was about, but I had mixed feeling throughout. On one hand, I LOVED the characters- Alice, Max, Blossom…they all get 5 stars from me and I think that’s the main thing that kept me reading, but the terminology (Corleonesi, the Family, the Clutch Hand) left me confused and waiting for the pieces to come together. (Note: the end of the book closes with a note from the author with information about the time period and where many of these terms come from. I think if I had known that to start, I would have enjoyed and understood the story at a whole different level.) I do give the author props for tackling the combining of two genres and doing it for a time period and location that isn’t commonly written about. It left me wanting to know more about the time period and topics mentioned, which I think is always a win.

Overall, the characters get 5 stars, the plot gets 3, and the ease of readability gets 2, for an overall rating of 3 stars. If you love historical fiction this book could be for you!